Note: The characters and events in this story are works of my imagination. They are not real, and the events never happened.
First, just a little side-note for anyone who doesn't know what Bonfire Night is.
In England, on the 5th of November, we have Bonfire Night, when we let off fireworks to celebrate the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot, when a man called Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament in London.
Now that that's cleared up, on with the story!
*****
I was waiting at the train station for about half an hour, waiting for Claire's train to arrive. She was coming to visit from Wales, and the train had been delayed before she set off, so advised me to get to the station to meet her a bit later than planned.
We'd met on the internet, on a dating site, and we instantly made a connection, and ever since we've been e-mailing each other and on facebook and skype pretty much every day of the week, just chatting about pretty much anything.
This had been going on for a couple of months now, and we decided that it was time that we actually met, and she volunteered herself to come and visit me for a weekend.
We'd planned to stay in for the night, and watch a film and let off a couple of garden fireworks, then the next day go out and do something in town together.
I couldn't wait to finally meet her! I was getting anxious as the train was getting to be 40 minutes late now. I was getting tense.
I looked out down the platform, and saw the nose of a train peek into view from behind some greenery, and approach the station. This looked like her train!
I moved backwards towards the trolley I'd taken to help take her bags to the taxi rank outside, and sat down on the bench beside it. Quite why I'd decided to get the trolley was beyond me. She was only going to be bringing enough clothes to last the weekend, but then maybe I was thinking she would bring a whole wardrobe in a stereotypical girly fashion.
I'd also decided against a sign with her name on it, and went for the approach of wearing a dark blue stetson hat, and have her keep an eye out for that.
As the train pulled into the platform, I tried to smarten myself up. I adjusted my hat, tugged my sweater under my coat to get the wrinkles out, and did the same with my trousers.
The train came to a halt, the doors opened, and people scrambled out as quickly as they could, trying to keep control of their luggage as they left the carriages.
I rose up on my toes to try to see over the crowd, and see where Claire could possibly be. I scanned up and down a few times, but I couldn't see her.
Suddenly, I felt someone rap my shoulder with their finger. I turned to look at who it was, and if was Claire! How she had gotten off the train without me seeing her was a mystery to me, but hell, I didn't care!
"Hi," she held a hand up and waved sheepishly, and her gaze fell to one side, probably out of nervousness more than anything.
"Hey, Claire," I replied, waving back at her in a similar fashion, smiling at her as I did, trying to make her feel a bit more comfortable.
Claire is slightly shorter than me, about 5 foot 6 in height, and has emerald green eyes, brown hair that cascades down past her shoulders, and a smile that makes my heart stop. She was wearing a purple scarf, a black coat reaching her knees, and brown leather boots that reached halfway up her shins.
"So, how are you?" she asked, still slightly shy, but still smiling.
"I'm fine, thank you," I replied, "and yourself?"
She swayed slightly, chuckled, and answered with "I'm fine, too."
"Want me to help you with your bags?" I asked, holding a hand towards her.
"No, I'll be fine," she stepped aside to reveal a relatively small suitcase with wheels and a handle. Claire looked behind me at the trolley I was leaning against, frowning quizzically. "Why did you bring a trolley?"
I stood upright, simultaneously pushing the trolley away with my elbow as I put my hands in my pockets. "Trolley?" I asked, "What trolley?"
Claire laughed, and punched me playfully in the arm.
"Ok, let's go then shall we?" I touched the front brim of my hat down slightly, and we made our way towards the taxi rank, pretty much in silence. I guess we were both the same, nervous and excited at the same time.
The taxi journey was similarly quiet, the only words spoken were my home address, the fare, and the "thanks" to the driver when we arrived about 20 minutes later. It was dark already, considering this was the start of the winter months, the days were shorter.
We gathered Claire's belongings, and I escorted her to the front door, unlocked it and opened it, beckoning her inside. I live by myself in a rented bungalow at the moment, since I have no need for anything larger.
We decided that the best time for fireworks would be 8 o' clock, so until then, I got us a bottle of wine and a bag of Doritos from the kitchen, and we chatted about things that were going on in our lives, and what we wanted to do in the future.
I even showed Claire a couple of card tricks that I had learned, and managed to earn myself a slap on the arm when she couldn't figure them out, accompanied by a remark of "Bastard!" and a laugh.
When 8 o' clock came, we were sufficiently relaxed, and headed into the back garden to set of some of the garden fireworks I'd bought.
I offered the choice to Claire, and she chose a Roman Candle to start off with, and placing it in the flower bed, digging a small hole for it, and stepping back as I lit it.
We got through about 6 of the smaller fireworks before Claire decided on one of the rockets. These fireworks need to be placed in a plastic pipe which is stuck in the ground so that they stay upright, and can fly up into the sky and explode.
I placed the firework into the pipe, and lit it, stepping back, and watched as it flew up into the air and exploded in a smatter of crimson stars and some small crackling pops occuring in the arms of the firework.
I felt something at my arm, and Claire had started to hug it. I looked down at her, and she smiled at me. I smiled back, unsure if I'd be breathing for a few minutes.
Claire pulled on my arm, standing on her tip toes, and kissed me on the cheek. She looked away, as if slightly ashamed that she'd done that.